“To tamper with that definition, or
to engage in some Orwellian social engineering about the nature and
purpose of marriage, is perilous to all of us. If the definition of
marriage is continually being altered, could it not in the future be
morphed again to include multiple spouses or even family members.”

“If big, intrusive government can
re-define the most basic, accepted, revealed truth that marriage
simply means one man + one woman + (hopefully) children, in a loving
family, then I'm afraid Orwell's works will no longer be on the
fiction shelf.”

The Sunday before senators voted on the
bill, Dolan prayed for its defeat. During prayer service at St.
Patrick's cathedral, Dolan said: “Any presumption to redefine that
sacred vocabulary, I'm afraid is at our common peril.”

This Sunday, however, Dolan kept mum
about gay unions, telling NY1 that he did not want any distractions
during a time of worship.

“Well, this is about prayer, and I
sort of needed a good dose of the lord's grace and mercy because I've
been down a little recently, as you might imagine,” Dolan said.

He said the vote did not surprise him,
adding that he loved the gay community.

“To the gay community, I love you
very much. If anything I ever said or did would lead you to believe
that I have anything less than love and respect for you, I
apologize.” (The video is embedded in the right panel of this
page.)